Production and assembly of formally designed and detailed mechanical structures, as in the production and assembly of aerospace-related structures (such as aircraft), is a documented, planned event. Designers, engineers and skilled laborers tasked to produce formally designed and detailed mechanical structures may follow the following general protocol, namely:
(1) create, review and modify product design specifications including component part definition drawings, assembly configuration definition drawings and Computer-Aided-Design (CAD) models, including applicable material and production process specifications;
(2) create and distribute sequenced, planned production and assembly documentation to empower skilled laborers to build-up the structure incorporating applicable material and production process specifications, and, including the definition of required tooling, whether commercially available or custom-designed, and, including a means to alter or update the production and assembly processes to incorporate necessary change resulting from issues such as design configuration change, engineering process change, material change, component parts shortage, tooling problems, equipment problems, and non-conformance issues; and
(3) execute, in the specified order, planned production and assembly operations to complete the mechanical structure.
The work to create and distribute sequenced, planned production and assembly documentation for the build-up of mechanical structures of the type described herein results in what may be termed a “planning document” or “manufacturing planning document.” The planning document, along with related product and process definition documents, when properly executed, defines both a production method for the mechanical structure as well as means to accept the work. Material and tooling necessary for build-up of the mechanical structure may be specified within the planning document, as well as pertinent material condition and tool configuration.
The planning document may contain discreet, properly sequenced, executable work instructions, often called “operations” with continuously evolving part/assembly configuration definitions. Within the planning document, the early operations may involve raw material and component parts of the mechanical structure, while the final operations may involve operations instructing ways to properly finish the mechanical structure. The discreet, sequenced, executable work instructions may be performed by automated equipment, man-operated machinery, the application of tooling or manpower, or any combination of these.
Current practice for assembly of space and aero-space mechanical structures generally requires an assembly foreman to read a set of engineering drawings, plans, or blueprints, to obtain the location of various sub-structural components (e.g. hole locations) on which to fasten or join materials (for example, wings, fuselage, etc). At various points of the assembly process, an assembly foreman may measure and mark the location of specific features or provide assembly instructions onto the various assembly parts using engineering drawings for product definition. Each measurement and marking is based on drawings that are either scaled or full-size, and may involve fractional dimensions that-may be applied cumulatively. These measurements and markings, when performed by workers of differing skill levels can sometimes result in undesired and costly errors, particularly where cumulative dimensions are involved.
As such, it is known to use certain types of templates in the construction of mechanical structures in the space and aero-space industry in order to attempt to minimize such errors. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 8,051,577 describes a fastener template for use in the construction of aero-space mechanical structures. Other known methods include the use of paint and full-size hoods or masks that fit over the mechanical structure and have pre-made holes to which paint is applied (either through spray or hand technique) thereby leaving the desired markings on the mechanical structure being created/worked on.
However, some of these prior art aero-space mechanical structure templates and/or marking techniques are not as useful and/or complete as could be desired because, among other limitations, for example, they are not visually transparent, they are not self-adhesive, they cannot remain in location throughout the assembly process, they prevent the installation of components when located on the workpiece, they cannot either be drilled or countersunk through when located on the workpiece, they do not provide a means for product acceptance, they do not conform easily to all of the curved portions of aero-space mechanical structures as might be desired, and/or require that the templates overlay existing pre-drilled holes to be used, and/or require the use of paint that is messy and physical tooling that is large and cumbersome and sometimes difficult to store and retrieve. Accordingly, it is desired to have a template for use in the construction of aero-space mechanical structures that alleviates at least some of these deficiencies in the prior art.